


the father we share

by winter_hiems



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men Legacy
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon Disabled Character, Childhood Trauma, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Don't copy to another site, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Half-Siblings, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Mental Health Issues, Mr. and Mrs. X (Marvel Comics), Outer Space, Politics, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Siblings, Protectiveness, Royalty, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Siblings, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26301259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winter_hiems/pseuds/winter_hiems
Summary: Rogue and Gambit were happily enjoying their honeymoon when Kitty Pryde called them up and told them that Charles Xavier’s daughter needed rescuing.But they’re not the only mutants looking for Xandra. David Haller only just found out about his little sister, and he’d do anything to keep her safe.(A look at what would have happened if David turned up during Mr & Mrs X.)
Relationships: Lilandra Neramani/Charles Xavier (past), Remy LeBeau/Rogue, Ruth Aldine/David Haller
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	the father we share

**Author's Note:**

> Content warning: this work contains one mention of blood.

Ruth woke alone. This shouldn’t have startled her. She’d woken alone every day for seventeen years, but for the last two weeks she had most emphatically _not_ woken up alone, and David’s absence made the bed colder and less welcoming. 

Her boyfriend was excellent at grand romantic gestures. He’d told her to pack for a variety of weather conditions, and when Ruth had stood out in the mansion’s back field holding her suitcase, he’d come down in a spaceship of all things. Apparently Abigail Brand owed him a lot of favours. So many favours that the loan of a spaceship only wiped out about half. 

Ruth had loaded her luggage, David had given a middle finger salute to the various residents of the X-mansion who’d gathered around to stare, and the two of them had been off on a month-long holiday to wherever in space they decided to park the ship. 

The beaches on Chandilar were amazing, the views of nebulae were spectacular, and the two of them had discovered that certain collaborative athletic activities were different (but still very enjoyable) when they turned off the ship’s gravity controls. 

Right now the gravity controls were on, so Ruth sat up in a tangle of sheets. She really had got used to waking up next to David – or to be more accurate, wrapped up in David. He almost always ended up as the big spoon, and when he was asleep he could be clingy in a way she found adorable. 

*

Ruth found him on the bridge, sitting in the captain’s chair. Even without the warning flares of stress radiating out from his surface thoughts, Ruth could tell that something was wrong. His whole body was wound tight and tense. 

“What is it?” 

He started, which told Ruth just how bad things were – he’d been so focused on whatever was worrying him that he hadn’t even sensed her enter. 

David gestured wordlessly to the monitor in front of him. 

Ruth walked over and had a look. The screen showed the image of a pinkish-red crystal, and the picture was accompanied by a lot of writing in an alien language. 

“David, I can’t read that,” she said softly. “What’s that crystal thing?” 

“The crystal’s just a housing,” David told her. “The really important thing is what’s inside. The writing on this particular bounty doesn’t tell you, but what it does say is that it’s worth a shit-ton of money. I don’t even know why I looked at it – I was just reading the space equivalent of the internet for something to do, but I got this feeling, and you know how accurate my intuition is… So I read the bounty information, and then I did some digging. Had to hack into the Shi’ar government’s private archives to get my answer, but their firewalls can’t compete with my brain. The crystal is casing for an egg. And inside the egg is the –” his voice shook. David ran a hand over his face, and Ruth realised that he was close to tears. “ _Fuck_ – the genetically engineered child of Charles Xavier and Lilandra Neramani.” 

Ruth hugged him. She wasn’t quite sure what else to do. David was shaking in her arms. 

“I have to go and get it,” he murmured into her shoulder. “That egg holds the heir to the Shi’ar Imperium. About twenty different governments want it, the bounties on it are rising every minute, but I have to, Ruth – I have to get it and take it somewhere safe. Because it’s – family.” 

Ruth pulled back slightly so that she could look him in the face. “Of course you do. And I’m coming with you.” 

*

They had no idea where the egg would be, but that wasn’t exactly an issue for mutants with their abilities. After about five minutes of enforced meditation and playing around with each other’s brains in ways that they would never let anyone else do, David and Ruth managed to induce a vision. 

The came to simultaneously, sitting bolt upright from where they’d previously been lying on the bed side by side. 

Ruth felt something hot and wet trickle down her face. The place where she didn’t have eyes was bleeding, as it sometimes did when she had a particularly forceful vision of the future. She’d stopped wearing the blindfold when it was just her and David alone together, so she didn’t have anything to wipe away the blood with until he handed her a tissue. They still hadn’t worked out where the blood even came from. 

But that wasn’t important right now. 

“It’s with Rogue and Gambit?” said David, not quite believing it, even thought they’d both seen it in the near future. 

“Apparently,” replied Ruth. “And they’re being pursued.” 

David nodded. “The Shi’ar Imperial Guard. Fuck.” 

*

By the time they parked the ship in orbit around a moon of Chandilar, the fight had already begun. 

From what they could see, Gambit and Rogue had backup in the form of the Starjammers. David could barely remember any of their names, but he was pretty sure that the leader was Cyclops’ deadbeat dad. They were going up against almost the entirety of the Shi’ar Imperial guard, which was another group whose members David had never needed to learn the names of. 

He didn’t like going up against enemies whose abilities he didn’t even know, but that was what telepathy was for. He reached out, and sensed a new foe approaching. 

Ruth had felt it too. They exchanged a look. “Send me down to help the others,” she said. “You go and take care of – her.” 

David nodded. With a gesture, he teleported Ruth down to join her aunt and uncle. In the meantime, he phased through the entire ship, letting himself build up speed with the freefall. The new arrival to the battle scene was someone he knew. Mainly because she was family. 

She jumped down from a huge Imperial war cruiser, purple cloak flapping, soldiers pouring out after her. 

David thudded into the ground before her, sending up a shockwave that knocked her and all her toy soldiers off their feet. 

Deathbird struggled back up and stood. “Who are you?” she asked, curling her lip. 

“Hi, auntie,” David said. “Any chance you’d leave this place in peace?” 

“Aunt?” Deathbird was momentarily taken aback, before her expression returned to its seemingly default bloodthirstiness. “I never knew that Xavier had a son. Though you can’t be Lilandra’s progeny.” 

“Nope. My mother was just as much of a politician, though.” 

“I didn’t come here to talk,” she hissed. 

“Neither did I,” said David. “I’m here for my sibling, so you can either piss off or fucking bring it.” 

Deathbird’s claws were sharp as razors. Her dagger might well have been sharper. She was surrounded by Shi’ar soldiers armed with blasters. 

David reached for his alters, reached for Endgame, covering his body with adaptive armour. He raised his fists and got to work. 

*

A battalion of the Shi’ar Imperium’s finest had been sent to Arsturo ‘Kle, a moon of Chandilar. They were led by the legendary Deathbird, sister of Lilandra Neramani, warrior, war-criminal and politician. 

None of them were standing anymore. 

Usually when he fought, David tried to make sure that his opponents came out alive by the end of it. The exception was when someone he loved was threatened. 

He stepped over a lot of bodies on his way back towards Ruth and the others. As he fought Deathbird and her troops, a couple of members of the Imperial Guard had started to see which way the battle was tipping, and had come over to help. It hadn’t made much difference. 

David felt faintly sick. The battle had barely touched him; he didn’t even have that much blood on him. And, as always, using his powers had felt exhilarating. Even his alters had enjoyed it. But that didn’t change the fact that he had just fought hundreds of people single-handedly and left not one of them in a state where they were capable of standing unaided. 

He had never asked for that kind of power. But for once, he was glad that he had it, that he had the ability to protect that egg, a future member of his family, from those who would control it and use it for their own purposes. 

The Starjammers, Rogue, Gambit, and Ruth all looked tired-out from their own fight, and they were all looking at him with expressions of faint shock, even Ruth. David briefly wondered if his eyes were glowing. 

“Where is it?” he asked. “The egg. Where is it?” 

“David…” said Ruth softly, and gestured. 

David followed Ruth’s arm, and then he saw her. A young Shi’ar girl with black feathers and Xavier blue eyes, dressed in purple and gold. She looked like Lilandra Neramani. She looked like his father. 

The egg had hatched. 

And – oh God – she’d just watched him fight all those people, cause all that death… 

David dropped to his knees. He couldn’t look away from the girl. Something poked at the shields of his mind, and he realised that it was her, his sister, investigating him with her fledgling telepathy. He opened his mind and let her look, let her see who he was and what he was. 

Her face broke into a grin and she sprinted the distance between them, tackling him with a hug. She offered her memories up to him willingly – she wanted him to know her – and before David knew it she’d grabbed his arm, pulled him to his feet, and was dragging him towards the others. 

“Rogue, Remy, Cerise, look!” she said, voice full of excitement. “This is David! He’s my brother! His dad is Charles Xavier too!” 

*

Her name was Xandra, and she was his sister, and he’d do anything for her. 

Right now, ‘anything’ meant putting her to bed. He picked out a small but comfortable room on the ship, and she was tired enough by the day’s escapades to get into bed without complaint. 

“There are people in your head,” she told him. 

“Yeah.” There was no point in trying to hide his condition. 

“Is it nice?” asked Xandra, “Is it like having friends?” 

“Sometimes,” he replied softly. “But other times it’s difficult. I’ve found a way to live with it, but it took me a long time to figure that out.” 

A pause. “You’ve met our father.” 

“Yes. Many times.” Though not as many times as David would have liked. He wondered how to break it to her that Charles Xavier had been a less-than-perfect father. 

“You feel sad about him.” 

“That obvious, huh?” David tucked in her blankets so that he could have something to do. “He found it difficult to accept the fact that I had people in my head. He loved me a lot, but he wasn’t very good at expressing it.” 

“He’s dead right now, isn’t he? I won’t get to meet him.” 

“That’s right. But if you go to sleep right now, I’ll tell you more about him in the morning.” 

*

They could’ve probably hitched a ride with the Starjammers, but Ruth and David were heading back to Earth, and besides, Rogue hadn’t had a chance to spend much time with her niece after their wedding. Remy realised with a jolt that he was Ruth’s uncle now. He’d never been an uncle before. He hoped that he wouldn’t be expected to set a good example. 

The three of them – Remy, Rogue, and Ruth – sat in the ship’s galley sipping tea. 

“You can pick out a room – yes, thank you,” said Ruth. “I’ve already taken the ship’s main bedroom, and David’s putting Xandra to bed in another one, but Cerise hasn’t claimed anything yet – pardon – so the others should be free.” 

Remy frowned. “All the others? Then where’s David sleeping?” 

At this, Ruth blushed. “David is – sorry, yes – kind of – pardon – sleeping in my room. As well. With me.” 

“Ah,” said Remy. He and Rogue had met David once before, when they were all on a mission together a few years ago. The general impression they’d had was that David was a good kid with a difficult life, but – boyfriend material for Rogue’s niece? That hadn’t once occurred to them. Perhaps he was being unfair to David. He’d barely seen the two of them interact, and besides, if David and Ruth were on holiday together in space, then clearly the relationship was something serious. He’d talk to Rogue about it later. 

*

Charles Xavier’s son cornered Cerise in the loading bay. 

“We’re going to have a talk,” he said, making it clear that it was not a request. 

“Very well,” she replied with a politician’s faked calmness. 

“You saw what I did to the Imperium’s soldiers today,” said David levelly, “So I think you probably understand what I would do to keep Xandra safe.” 

“I think I do.” 

“I also know that you’re secretly working for Gladiator. He pretends to want you arrested, but he’s communicating with you behind closed doors.” 

Cerise’s eyes widened. “How do you know this?” 

David met her gaze. “I’m a telepath. Work it out. Now, tell me why you started working for him.” 

“He kept me safe,” Cerise told him. “He kept both of us safe, gave us money and safe houses so that I could raise Xandra.” 

“Because she’s the heir to the Shi’ar throne,” David said. “Because he wanted to control her. The question is: do you want to allow Gladiator to continue to control her? If the answer’s yes, then I’ll drop you off on the nearest inhabited planet. If the answer’s no, then you’ll come with me and Xandra.” 

Cerise thought about Gladiator, and how in a fight he wouldn’t be a match for the slender young man standing in front of her. She thought about Lilandra, her best friend, dead, and the child who’d been created from her DNA and given to Cerise to raise. “The answer is no,” she said. 

“Great,” said David. “Now tell me the best way to break into the Shi’ar royal palace.” 

*

“Cerise doesn’t work for you anymore.” 

Gladiator whirled, ready to blast the intruder out of existence. “Who are you and how did you get into my private quarters?” 

The boy – and it was a boy, the speaker was young – shrugged his shoulders. “I’m resourceful. And as to who I am, well, I’m Charles Xavier’s son. Which is why I’m here: I want you to know that I have my sister, and that anyone you send to try and take her away from me will meet the same fate as Deathbird and her soldiers.” 

Long black hair. One green eye, one blue eye. Mutant. He certainly matched the description of the one who’d dismantled Deathbird’s forces like they were nothing, but Gladiator had assumed that the attacker would have been more physically imposing. “You look like your father,” he said. 

“This isn’t about my father,” Charles Xavier’s son replied. “This is about my sister. You are going to stop looking for her. For five years, you will do nothing to disturb her life. In the meantime, I will raise her, Cerise will educate her, and once those five years are over, _if she wants to_ , I will return her to the Shi’ar Imperium to be crowned.” 

Gladiator narrowed his eyes. “And I suppose you’ll use her to take foothold at court.” 

The boy actually laughed. “This isn’t about politics. My stepmother was an empress, but I’m no royal. No, I’m doing this for a simple reason: Xandra is a child, and children deserve childhoods. I never had a chance at that, and I’d do anything to make sure that she does. So I’ll raise her and look after her and love her, and if in five years the throne is what she wants, then I’ll make sure she gets that as well. So what do you say?” 

Gladiator tilted his head. “What if I say no?” 

The boy shrugged. “Then nothing will really change. The only difference is that over the next five years I’ll be looking over my shoulder significantly more often.” 

A pause. “What you did on Arsturo ‘Kle was impressive. I don’t suppose that in five years’ time you’ll consider a position in the Imperial Guard?” 

“Not on your life. So it’s a deal?” 

“It seems like I don’t have much of a choice.” 

“You don’t,” said the boy cheerily, and he vanished in a shimmer of golden light. 

Gladiator realised that he hadn’t even got the young man’s name. 

*

“I need you to promise me something,” David said quietly. 

Rogue and Remy had been meaning to talk to him about his relationship with Ruth, but David had steered the conversation away from that masterfully. “A promise about what?” asked Rogue. 

“I need you to promise not to tell the X-Men where Xandra is.” 

“But –” began Rogue, and David cut her off. 

“They’ll try to take her away from me,” he said, and there were acres of pain in his eyes. “None of the X-Men trust me, and they certainly wouldn’t let me look after a kid. Please. My father is dead, my mother barely talks to me. Xandra is the only family I have.” 

Rogue looked at Remy. “Well, I suppose if we told Kitty that Xandra is being raised by Cerise someplace safe then that wouldn’t technically be a lie.” 

Remy shrugged. “Sounds like the truth to me.” 

*

“So how do you feel about Xandra?” asked Ruth. They were both sitting on the bed in their room. 

“I feel… a lot,” David admitted. “I’m worried for her, I’m worried a lot. I mean, even though Gladiator probably won’t send anyone after us, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the galaxy is just going to forget that the heir to the Shi’ar Imperium exists. The only benefit is that they all think she’s still an egg. And raising her is going to be a challenge, but I’ll do it.” He paused. “You know, it’s strange. I remember when we fell in love, and it was a process that we both went through, and it lasted months, but with Xandra – it was instant. Instantaneous unconditional love. And I suppose it’s like that with my parents too, but this feels different. Because she’s depending on me.” 

Ruth kissed him. “You’ll do great.” 

David leaned into the kiss before he abruptly broke it off. “Oh holy shit.” 

“What?” 

“Xandra was raised in secret, right? And she’s never been to Earth.” 

“Well, yeah, when we take her back to Earth it’ll be her first trip…” 

David took Ruth’s hands in both of his. “Ruth, she’s never seen Star Wars. She’s never even _heard_ of Star Wars. And it’s impossible for her to know that Darth Vader is Luke’s father. Holy shit. She has no idea, no-one’s ever spoiled it for her, and tomorrow we are having a Star Wars marathon, and it is going to blow. Her. Mind.” 

*

(Xandra’s favourite character was Princess Leia.) 

(Cerise’s favourite character was Mon Mothma.) 

*

There was a house in the Rocky Mountains, and it was a long way from anywhere. It did not exist on any map. 

In the house lived a young man, his half-sister, and his sister’s tutor. 

Sometimes they were joined by the young man’s girlfriend and his girlfriend’s aunt and uncle.

**Author's Note:**

> Something that comes up in the comics from time to time is that David’s actually really good with kids. He’s especially focused on the fact that children deserve childhoods, because he never really got to have one. And when Xandra was introduced in Mr & Mrs X, one of my first thoughts was that David had a little sister.
> 
> That, and the fact that Ruth is Rogue’s great-niece was my reasoning behind writing this fic.
> 
> Xandra has pink eyes in the comics, but I never liked the trope of ‘son is carbon copy of father, daughter is carbon copy of mother’, so here she has her father’s eyes.
> 
> To learn more about the number of favours Abigail Brand owes David, see why I know that David’s the big spoon, watch Ruth cry blood when she has a vision, find out why David likes living in the mountains, or if you just want to see David be protective over telepath kids who aren’t Xandra, check out X-Men Legacy (2012).
> 
> David, Rogue, and Remy worked a mission together in Legion Quest.
> 
> One thing I did notice about X-Men Legacy is that David really, really doesn’t like the idea of using his powers to kill, but the second his mother’s life is threatened, the gloves come off. I don’t think he liked the lives he had to take in this fic, and it’s definitely going to keep him up at night, but he did it to save Xandra.
> 
> Xandra is described as having ‘fledgeling telepathy’ because, y’know, she’s a child from a race of bird aliens.
> 
> As always, Ruth doesn’t stammer around David.
> 
> Title is inspired by the CHVRCHES song ‘The Mother We Share’.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcome <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. I am not making money from this work.


End file.
